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Slovenia plays a role to boost China-EU ties

By Marjan Cencen (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-01 07:56

After the biggest enlargement of the EU in 2004 when Slovenia was accepted as one of the 10 new members of the association, the first half of 2008 was the first time that one of these new members took over the EU Presidency.

For Slovenia this was at least a triple challenge: we are a rather small country with 2 million people; with "only" 17 years of independence we are relatively young and we were also the first of the new member states who did not belong to the so-called Western block during the cold war period to lead the almost 500 million large association.

For the rest of the members and especially new members the latest was probably the biggest object of interest and the Slovenian experience was therefore of specific symbolic importance for the others.

This was also the main reason for establishing realistic goals we wanted to achieve and not to plan something too exceptional. But due to the process of further expansion and at the same time deepening of the EU institutions, holding the presidency of such a demanding body is already a huge challenge by itself.

When signing the Lisbon Treaty in December 2007, the EU Member States committed to ratify the Treaty at the earliest possible opportunity; this was achieved by 19 Member States, while ratification procedures are under way in the remaining countries.

The signing procedure was slightly overshadowed by the negative result of the referendum in Ireland. We will cooperate with Ireland in trying to find a uniform solution acceptable to all member States and enabling further development of the Union as rapidly as possible.

At the 2008 spring meeting of the European Council we successfully launched the second three-year period of the renewed Lisbon Strategy (2008-2010).

It was agreed that radical changes as to the content of the Strategy or the process of its implementation were not necessary and that we needed continuity and effective carrying out of the set reform programs. The compromise reached between the member states on the need to continue the reform process after 2010 was especially successful.

The Slovenian Presidency left a particular mark in the following areas such as knowledge and innovation, climate and energy issues, enlargement and the European Neighborhood Policy, intercultural dialogue, and EU-third country summits.

The overall priorities of the Slovenian Presidency as well as local priorities in Beijing were to a large extent determined in the 18-month program of the German, Portuguese and Slovenian Presidencies and in the inherited agenda of the Council of EU.

The Slovenian Presidency in China followed the already established orientation of the EU-China comprehensive strategic partnership, also confirmed by the Joint Statement of the 10th EU-China Summit in November 2007. Slovenia has worked closely with the European Commission and the member states, including France as the next Presidency.

The main guideline orientation of the Slovenian Presidency in Beijing was to ensure openness, transparency and smooth flow of communication among the member states and in relation to China. The general working approach with China was established on the basis of equally shared responsibility with regard to the growing role of China in the political, economic, trade, scientific, environmental, cultural and other fields in the global arena.

During the first half of 2008 we have achieved the following objectives : the beginning of the high level economic and trade dialogue, further positive steps in Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, successful EU troika Foreign Ministers' meeting with the Chinese minister of foreign affairs and a productive new round of human rights dialogue.

These events have proven that the EU and China have many mutual interests and even when they encounter some differences they are handled in a way which is normal for two strategic partners in a mature stage of bilateral relations.

During the presidency we were faced with some major events - some expected, others unexpected - such as snow disaster, riots in Tibet autonomous region and the neighboring provinces, the Plenary Session of the NPC; Taiwan elections and referenda; the Sichuan earthquake and the preparations for the Olympic Games.

The Wenchuan earthquake was a particularly shocking event because of its power and the numbers of victims. The EU reacted promptly as a whole as did individual countries: initially it was by expressing condolences and sympathy to the Chinese people and at the same time by offering rescue teams and assistance.

The assistance was sent as money donations, rescue teams and equipment. The EU and its member states are already discussing more complex means of assistance for restoring the people's well-being and infrastructure.

What is particularly meaningful is the attitude of the European citizens who expressed strong solidarity with the victims of the disaster and collected different kinds of assistance through their own associations. During this challenging time the Europeans proved that they are close to the Chinese people.

The Slovenian Embassy in Beijing worked intensively to continue and even strengthen close ties with the Chinese public and to make the EU more recognizable. We attended the International Conference on Desertification in Beijing on behalf of the EU; the Troika of the EU ambassadors attended the seminar organized by Institute for European Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: and the annual conference on the Development of Europe 2007-08.

We organized the visit of ambassadors to Jilin province which included: meetings with the representatives of the provincial government, a forum with the participation of Chinese students; a visit to a hospital; a visit to the border area between China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; a meeting with the representatives of the Korean minority and visits to sites of cultural and historical interest.

In April we organized an event, "Diplomats Running for Peace and Friendship." The objectives of the event were: to promote friendship and cooperation in the diplomatic community in Beijing; to promote knowledge about the EU among the Beijing diplomatic community; to mark the beginning of the last 100 days of the countdown to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and to promote recreation and sports.

Among more than 100 people present 51 embassies participated in the run, among them more than 20 ambassadors. Together with the European Commission we also organized a photo exhibition, Olympic spirit: The Olympics through the Lens of European Photographers.

It is possible to conclude that in spite of some challenges, the EU-China relations remained close and strong in the first half of 2008 and we look forward to the successful Olympic Games in August.

The author is Slovenian ambassador to China

(China Daily 07/01/2008 page9)